This is a re-release of an episode recorded on September 20, 2022 and published on November 30, 2022:
In this episode, we talk with Loida Garcia-Febo – a Puerto Rican American librarian, International Library Consultant expert in library services to diverse populations and human rights and the 2018-2019 President of the American Library Association – about the importance of getting out of the library and into communities, mentoring staff, in particular nurturing Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and equipping all with empathy to better serve library communities. Trust is an important factor in doing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism work in libraries, as Garcia-Febo explains. Library staff need to work alongside community partners outside of the library to build that trust.
Hosts: Roxanne Renteria and Brittany Young
(Original) Date Recorded: September 20, 2022
This is a re-release of an episode recorded on September 20, 2022 and published on November 30, 2022:
In this episode, we talk with Loida Garcia-Febo – a Puerto Rican American librarian, International Library Consultant expert in library services to diverse populations and human rights and the 2018-2019 President of the American Library Association – about the importance of getting out of the library and into communities, mentoring staff, in particular nurturing Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and equipping all with empathy to better serve library communities. Trust is an important factor in doing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism work in libraries, as Garcia-Febo explains. Library staff need to work alongside community partners outside of the library to build that trust.
Hosts: Roxanne Renteria and Brittany Young
(Original) Date Recorded: September 20, 2022
[Intro Music Playing]
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Welcome to OVERDUE: Weeding Out Oppression in Libraries, a podcast produced by the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Committee of the Oregon Library Association made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Oregon. The co-hosts for today's episode are Roxanne M. Renteria, and Brittany Young. Hello, I am Roxanne M. Renteria. Pronouns are she/her/hers, and I am a Community Librarian at the Deschutes Public Library based in Bend, Oregon.
Brittany Young:
Hello, I am Brittany Young, pronouns are she/her/hers, and I am the Law Librarian at the Lane County Law Library in Eugene, Oregon. Our special guest today is Loida Garcia-Febo. Loida is a Puerto Rican American librarian and international library consultant expert in library services to diverse populations and human rights. She was the 2018/2019 president of the American Library Association. Garcia-Febo is known worldwide for her passion about diversity, communities, sustainability, innovation and digital transformation, library workers, library advocacy, wellness for library workers, and new librarians, about which she has taught in 44 countries. In her job, she helps libraries, companies, and organizations strategize programs, services, and strategies in areas related to these topics, and many others. Garcia-Febo has a Bachelor's in Business Education and a Master's in Library and Information Sciences.
She has a long history of service at library associations. Some highlights include, at the International Federation of Library Associations, she's been on the governing board from 2013 to 2017. She's the co-founder of IFLA New Professionals. She's a two term member of the continuing professional development and workplace learning section of IFLA. Currently at CPDWL, she is the advisor information coordinator of the management of library association section. Currently at ALA, she is the Chair of the Public Awareness Committee. Recently she completed a term as the Chair of the ALA Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship and chair of the groundbreaking ALA's United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Task Force to develop a multi-year strategic plan for ALA. Born, raised, and educated in Puerto Rico, she has advocated for libraries at the United Nations, the European Union Parliament, US Congress, New York State Senate, New York City Hall, and on sidewalks and streets in various states. Hello, Loida. How are you doing today?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Hello. Hola. I am great. Today is a good day to have this conversation, and I am so glad that Oregon has taken on EDIA, or diversity, inclusion, and equity. It's very interesting, the different acronyms, but I'm glad that this is happening.
Brittany Young:
Thank you, Loida. The acronyms are very interesting. I agree.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
With that said, shall we dive right in and get started? Since we are librarians and what we do in the workplace isn't just reading, I wanted to start this conversation with an icebreaker question that's inspired a little bit by my own reading status, which is piles and piles of books everywhere that I want to read. Loida, what's the theme of the books that you have on your night table, your bedroom floor, or in your to be read bookshelf?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Well, I have a myriad of different books and this is a great question. I love Joan Didion. And I am reading her book, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, and Joan Didion is a woman that...she wrote about...I think it's about women empowerment. It's just wonderful. I love it. I recently went to Ireland and I bought the Best-Loved Yeats, which is from the poet Yeats, and so I have that on my night table, pending to read. And I also have Violeta, a novel from Isabel Allende. So that one I need to start reading. But the one that I am about to finish is by Phoebe Robinson, and the title is, Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes. These are all books by women, although one is about the poems of Yeats. As you know, he was a man. But they're all women writers and it's great about women empowerment. I'm all about that these days.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Fantastic. I support that as a theme.
Brittany Young:
Thank you, Loida. I am excited to read some of these books myself, and I always appreciate book recommendations, and immediately have to write them down and then try to find them, usually on an audiobook app like Libby. Loida, can you tell us a little bit about your personal journey in libraries in equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, like I said, I'm very glad that this series is happening. My work in EDIA goes beyond speaking or writing about it, it includes action. And so for instance, when someone calls me because there is a need for action, I have taken action. And I have contact people and bring people together to make things happen in states. And I am going to keep the details, but I know there are people in Oregon that knows about those actions. Unfortunately, I am only one person and have many things to take care of, so I cannot help all the people contacting me. I am deeply appreciative of their trust, but there are times there are many, many people contacting me and I try to do the best I can. My heart is in it all. And with that said, I want to share a little bit about my career.
I started my librarian career in Puerto Rico, first as a school librarian, and shortly after at the University of Puerto Rico at a special collection for people with disabilities. And then I went to manage a special library unit for the visually impaired and people with disabilities. And that was the terms used at the time. And so I have always been all about equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, and anti-racism. At Queens Library, I coordinated programs and collections in languages other than English. My work at IFLA, at the International Federation of Library Associations, included work on the code of ethics and a document about ethical dilemmas in libraries.
I also served on ALA's Diversity Council and many other committees of ALA, and during my ALA presidency, one of my efforts was titled EDI in Our Libraries. And it was a video series to help librarians embed EDI principles in programs and services. It featured librarians from academic, public and school libraries. The content was anchored in three core questions. Last year, the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, which I chaired, presented the program Anti-Racism, Work, and Women in Librarianship during the ALA Midwinter conference. So I think that everything we do is linked to advocacy for EDIA, and if it's not, then we need to take a step back and a very close look to what we are doing, because it should be...follow that line.
Brittany Young:
Thank you, Loida. I don't know if the mic would actually be able to pick up me clapping, but just know I would do a standing applause right now with your last statement, there.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
So you've served as an advocate for EDI and anti-racist initiatives in libraries on the national level as ALA president and on the global level on the managing board of IFLA. That's incredibly clear. What insights did you gain from these experiences that you would want to share with library leaders working on EDI and anti-racism now?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, another very important question, right? How we can move things forward? Well, we need more people doing EDI work. What you are doing, this podcast, is part of that and there are many other ways of doing EDI work. It is hard work and it can be stressful, it could be tough, it could be lonely, that is true. But at the same time, we don't need to tear people down. So there are truths involved in this work. Working together, we can indeed make a difference. And this is very important, because sometimes it can be tough to work together with others, even if we agree at the core of what we do. And then we need concerted action. Sometimes messaging can be lost in sayings or critiquing. We need to come together in concerted action to then move this work forward. Those are the things I have learned from my experiences.
Brittany Young:
Loida, you have mentioned working in Puerto Rico at libraries there, and we're just wondering how do libraries outside of the US approach EDIA? We know, obviously, you're on IFLA as well, so I'm sure you have input on many different countries.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, and this is very interesting because EDI doesn't look exactly the same in the USA and other regions. Although Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, it's a bit more Latin American in the culture, in the cuisine, and language as well, which is Spanish, the first language. And so each region of the world is different. While I do believe that human rights principles, where I anchor EDIA are the same universally, there are laws in some countries that can put people's lives in jeopardy if we go advocating for different areas within EDIA. There are areas like women's rights that still need advocacy in different regions, including the USA, as we are all aware, if we watch the news. As we know, women equality has not been achieved in our world, nowhere.
Therefore, advocating for including women, for instance in committees, in conversations, in programs, this is related to our profession, for example, can be a main goal in some countries. And at the same times, as I mentioned in our profession, there are many countries in different regions that are advocating for the same themes, as we saw with the Black Lives Matter movement, where people held protests and took action in different cities around the world. So it varies from country to country. I'm very glad that I live in the USA and democracy allows us to advocate, and protest, and call attention to things, but that's not the same in other regions of the world. So I want to encourage everyone to continue advocating because we do live in a country where we have freedoms and we must give them.
Brittany Young:
Very well said. Thank you. Loida.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
You're known for promoting the bonds between libraries and their communities. On the local level, how do you see libraries and communities working together to support EDI and anti-racism?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Well, libraries are part of societies, just and equitable societies are goals of societies that practice human rights. And therefore I see many areas for libraries to collaborate with communities to support EDI, which I see as a matter of human rights. All types of libraries can partner with public and private agencies or organizations to bring programs and services to the community. Libraries, part of local government, can have an opportunity to join anti-racism and diversity initiatives from their cities, as have done Seattle Public Library. Autonomous libraries have opportunities as well. Community forums, they can host BIPOC authors, film festivals, concerts...they can do programming. Hosting programs to help battered women discuss and provide resources for immigrants, former incarcerated, the homeless, people facing discrimination. There are many opportunities for libraries to do this work. But I recommend building collections with input from community groups so they can see themselves in them.
At the same time, planning these programs, the themes, the events to be followed. I also recommend to do this with community leaders, with gatekeepers. And this is not only for perhaps public libraries, but academic libraries also work with a community. They have the city where they are based, they have the chamber of commerce, they have different cultural groups within the university community. So there are many opportunities for libraries of different types to work with local community. I mentioned academic library, public libraries, of course, school libraries, they have, many of the community doors can be open for school libraries as well. So it's very important to harness those opportunities and work with the different leaders within them, be from different cultural groups or different social groups, or health networks, private or public, it's very important. And I think if libraries start developing partnerships, and relationships, and nurturing them, they can do even more work than what they're doing now.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Thank you for touching upon the importance of gaining community input. One of the sayings I love is, "Nothing about us without us." And I think it's a powerful reminder for those libraries who may be lacking in diverse staff, is to reach out to diverse subsections of their communities to get that input, to make their collections broader and stronger, to better serve those marginalized community members. So thank you for taking time to point that out explicitly, Loida.
Brittany Young:
With the last question you touched, I think, a little bit on the next one, which is where are improvements needed in libraries on community efforts?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
It's so important. We need to go out, outside the library walls, to meet community organizations more...outside the academic library, the public libraries, school libraries. We need to do this work, but we cannot do this if we have a skeleton staff working overtime to provide service. So there are some aspects that need to go together. Also, there are libraries where library administrators can provide opportunities for staff to meet community organizations during the working hours, as it is part of their job, adjust schedules so they can attend community meetings at night or during the weekend. This has to be done this way. There are many community organizations that we could meet during working hours, but there are others that have to be met evenings or weekends. And so this is part of the hard work, the tough work, if we really want to do the EDI in our libraries. If we mean it, this is part of it.
So yes, adjusting the schedules so we can attend different times if necessary. And I say this of course, I'm very serious about this, but I also say it with the understanding that if we have overworked and burned out staff, then we need to take care of the staff first. So there are many components, many elements involved in this work, but it has to be done in a way that, for instance, doesn't happen what happened many years ago at a library not too far from where I live. Someone at the library saw an opportunity for a grant to purchase books in what they thought was a language spoken by the community, Russian. They got the grant, $1,000, they got the books, they put them out. No one was checking them out. And then someone had a brilliant idea of connecting with a community. They were not Russian speakers, they were Czech, from the Czech Republic, Czech Republic speakers, whatever language that is. So it's very important, sometimes librarians think they know what the community needs, but we really need to do the extra work. Something for everybody to think about.
Brittany Young:
Thank you for providing us with that real world example that I'm sure other people will definitely relate to.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
In the past few years, you've been involved in the profession wide discussion about wellness in libraries, something that is near and dear to my heart, not just wellness for community members, but also wellness and well-being for library staff. Toward that end, I have a two part question for you. First, what does wellness in the workplace look like for library staff? And to follow up, how is wellness for library workers an EDIA issue?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, wellness is very important for me, personally. I grew up in an [inaudible 00:21:16] wellness. Wellness in the workplace includes strategies that equip library workers to do their jobs, and also includes, for instance, equitable salaries. And so there are many areas. Right? The ergonomic aspects of your desk or your chair. Some libraries have meditation walks, design in the gardening of the library, and the staff goes and do that. Other libraries have included plants and an area with audio phones, and music, and a stationary bike. Libraries include different things for the staff, and I'm talking about the staff. But equitable salaries and fair working condition for women and those that need them are also part of wellness. So there are many things included in wellness.
For instance, the citation on wellness in the workplace that I established during my ALA presidency, and this is now housed under the Sustainability Round Table of ALA. That citation is in recognition of the fact that library staff are our greatest asset in building and supporting sustainable libraries and communities. And this citation recognizes libraries that go above and beyond in meeting the wellness needs of their staff. EDI is embedded in the citations. The areas that we included, they are still included in the citation, include continuing education, creating a positive, inclusive work environment, have advanced sustainability, and encourage wellness. And this may include wellness initiatives for unions, gender equity, pay equity, and other activities, all designed to improve the salaries and the status of library professionals. So it's not only wellness in the workplace for the library staff, but is inclusive wellness in the workplace. That part includes the EDI aspects.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Thank you for mentioning inclusion. So often libraries stop their EDI journey when it comes to diversity and hiring a diverse staff, but mental health is tied to inclusion. So thank you for that.
Brittany Young:
I, too, appreciate that inclusion and the inclusion of intersectionality in general. Our next question is what would you like to see in mentorship programs for BIPOC library staff? What role do mentorship programs play in libraries being able to best serve their communities as well as in supporting their staff?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
This is very important as well. Mentorship is very important for everyone in all professions. We ought to provide our Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color, BIPOC, new librarians with tools to make it into our profession...as simple as that. It is hard out there for everyone. And on top of that, if you are a BIPOC, it is harder. If we nurture and equip our BIPOC staff, they will be in a better position to serve communities, which all over the nation are increasingly more diverse. We need to come to this from a place of supporting and equipping them with empathy, not as saviors or as, "Do what I think it is best for you." And if you do something else, well, I'm disappointed. That's not it. When mentoring or working with BIPOC, people need to provide tools, hold hands, help to equip others, and let them be. And this goes not only for by BIPOC but for everybody.
Brittany Young:
I appreciate the equipping with empathy statement and can definitely relate to that. And we'll probably put it on a Post-it note to always remind myself of that.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
So what are three things libraries can do to recruit and retain BIPOC women workers?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Great...wonderful. Well, embed EDI principles in the strategic plan of the organization. That's to begin with. And we really need to get serious about this. There's a lot of talk about that. There are many vision statements including diversity or EDIA. There are websites that say, "This university welcomes everybody and everything." But there's no actions. So we really need to work towards including EDI principles in the strategic plan of the organization. And it's not an easy task. We all know strategic plans are tough things. And they are time consuming and there is a process. But we need to start this work. So yes, embed the EDI principles in a strategic plan of the organization.
Then connect with the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color and with the American Indian Library Association, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, the Chinese American Librarians Association and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and Spanish Speaking. We want to connect with all of those associations to announce job openings, but also to hear what the members have to say. And then based on that, we can include that, incorporate that in our actions. Take action, that's the main goal.
Then the third part is to do outreach to high schools. Very serious about that because this is when even the astronauts go to high schools to talk about their profession. And we have the professions day, and they go dentists, and doctors, and everybody. So we need to do that work as well. We need to start in high schools. Through the Public Library Association, ALA has a wonderful opportunity for high schoolers. And this was before the pandemic. I hope it can continue next year. And it's an opportunity for diverse individuals are in high school to have internships in public libraries. In that way, they start to learn what is the job, what is done in libraries. It's wonderful. Some of the people that have gone through the internship are just amazed by how many things libraries do. They shadow librarians, they even go outside when they go on outreach. So the comments and the experiences are very positive. So these are some of the things that we can do in this path of recruiting and retaining BIPOC women workers.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
I love the idea to connect with high school students or early and young college age students, to tell them and share stories about the library, and get them invested in library work through internships so that maybe we can create a future pool of BIPOC or marginalized library workers...diverse library workers.
Brittany Young:
After the pandemic, the work and interaction with people online has increased tremendously. And it seems that it's not going to go away. What would be a positive takeaway for BIPOC library workers in this changing landscape or how they can use it positively? How do you stay productive and motivated while working virtually?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Well, this is a unique opportunity that we have, or well, we still have because there are many people that are working what they call from home. But yes, a great opportunity to create events that would support our BIPOC library workers. During this time, I coordinated many events featuring wellness library services to communities during the pandemic, copyright matters, brave librarians, strong libraries. I have taught about digital transformation, how libraries can help communities achieve development, women issues, library services to diverse communities. And I share this as an example of what we can do if we work together. All these events, most of them, I have coordinated them with different teams, not only in the USA but in other regions of the world.
So if we work together, we can do great things, but at the same time, this is the most positive takeaway for the BIPOC library workers: working together. That's the only way and we can really affect change because we can certainly cannot do any of that alone. We need to work together and we also work with allies so we can bring some positivity into our world. I always love to work with teams, and this is something I want to stress, I want to motivate everyone to really think, "What are the best people perhaps that can be part of your team? Or how you can be more inclusive to then make sure that your team is successful?" And overall, I'm just grateful to many people from around the world that has worked with me, invited me to teach. I think this is the best. After working together and in teams, the second takeaway is that one, how we can achieve things and really connect with others from around the world.
Brittany Young:
That's one thing I definitely have appreciated about connecting in a bigger manner digitally, is just the ability to work with even more people. While, for some I know it's difficult, including myself, to have to be online and just through a screen, it's also given us a lot of opportunities to meet and collaborate with people that we wouldn't have been able to before this.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes. And I wanted to finalize my answer to you about how I stay productive and motivated to work virtually. And this is part of wellness, and I always like to mention this because we're not islands. And if we are BIPOC or not, or from whatever is our background, it's important to stay centered and explore ways in which that work for us and in which we can stay productive and motivated. And so for me, and this is something I like to share, because sometimes I take this for granted, but it's not the same for everybody for different reasons. The relationship I have with my family, my friends, my collaborators, and my colleagues that I have worked with them for many, many years, maybe 20 years, is very important to stay productive and motivated. And these are people that share my same interests. We share the same goals. So we are very motivated into affecting change in EDIA and also in equity for different parts of the population then have not reached equity yet.
And so that's important, that if someone out there is looking for how to stay motivated, and I will say regular times, working in person, I will say those are different groups of people that keep me centered and focused. But also when it's in virtual environments, I think we need to really reach out to those groups that are our close circles, because it could be a little tough to get motivated. I am naturally motivated, and I'm extrovert, and all those things, but I think everyone needs that type of circles to continue working, because this is the part that it really comes down to the individual, and how they recharge batteries to continue working towards the goals that we all have. We want a better world, and we deserve it, but we need to then take some steps to ensure that we are okay as well.
Brittany Young:
Thank you, Loida. It reminds me of a term I heard, or actually read in one of the books I'm reading right now called Collective Care. So not just self care, but we have to take care of each other and make space for that, too. So thank you.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Quoting one of Brene Brown's podcast, Unlocking Us rapid fire questions, "What is something that people often get wrong about you?"
Loida Garcia-Febo:
This is a very good question. The first thing is that some people are surprised that I have a Spanish accent. And so I love my accent. It's part of who I am. And yes, deal with it.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Thank you for being unapologetic Loida.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
There's nothing to apologize for.
Brittany Young:
That was beautiful. I liked the, "Deal with it." Hard stop. It was beautiful. What is something that you always wanted people to ask you and they never do?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
So, I think it's a good time then for you to ask something that you wanted to ask me, something else.
Brittany Young:
Hm. I'm curious, and maybe this might sound like a very librarian question to ask, but what is your favorite book? And it doesn't have to be the most influential, it can even be a guilty pleasure favorite.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
My favorite book is written by Gabriel García Márquez and I have to look it up because I know the title. It's about a couple that met when they were young. And for some reason they were never able to bring to fruition their love. And so at different times in their lives, they kind of like walk by or see each other from the distance. And it is a beautiful book. And they are finally together when they're very, very, very old, I will say 90-something years old, and then they die. So it's a very surprise book. I love it. And I cannot remember the title.
Brittany Young:
Ericka, who's doing our producing, she asked if it is Love in the Time of Cholera.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, yes, that is.
Brittany Young:
I have wanted to read that one for so long. And the way that you just described it makes me just want to read it more, even the part about, "then they get together and die."
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Yes, and that's what happens. But it's the way that Gabriel García Márquez writes. Cien Años de Soledad is one of my other books, along with La Casa de los Espiritus by Isabel Allende, those those books are jewels. But this one, Love in the Time of Cholera, is the magical realism is the genre that it's written in. And it's just wonderful. I can't say anything else because I just want everybody to read it. And it's not a really long book, so someone could probably read it in a day.
Brittany Young:
I love magical realism, very excited about that. I did want to give, Roxanne...did any questions pop into your head that you're like, "I really want to ask this."
Roxanne M. Renteria:
This is a vocational awe profession and I think there are a lot of us that are caught up in the good and the bad of that double-sided coin. And I'm curious to know, if you had to walk away from being a librarian or if you had never gotten involved with library science, what sort of career would you have gone into instead?
Loida Garcia-Febo:
I want to answer your question, but first I want to say that yes, by any means, continue advocating to bring light into our profession. Vocational awe is not good for us or anyone. It can kill people. I really don't want to continue like that because it's depressing. But we need to all together support each other and find the best tools to work to do what we need to do, right? These are jobs, and survive that. I think it's very important. After the pandemic, we all have learned many things and we have all been affected. And yes, for some people it can be a calling, but I really am a big proponent of wellness and balance. And so I don't want to critique someone, but I do want to ask people to look carefully at the way they are doing things so they can survive their jobs, and then they can live a very beautiful, harmonious, and well-balanced life. And I don't want to continue preaching that. So I will say that if I wasn't a librarian, then I would be an attorney. That it's another area that really fascinates me.
Brittany Young:
As a law librarian, that makes my heart super happy. Well, thank you so much Loida, for meeting with us today. I know we appreciate this opportunity to get to know you more, to learn from you, and especially to be inspired by you. So thank you.
Loida Garcia-Febo:
Well, thank you all. I do want to, once again, commend Oregon for presenting this series that I'm sure includes different speakers on different themes, but that at the core is how we can manage things within our profession...open space, bring more empathy, more harmony, more human rights to fight oppression in libraries. So thank you, and the best luck, and my best regards to everyone.
Roxanne M. Renteria:
Thank you so much. Loida,
Brittany Young:
We would like to ask you to reflect and act on the information gained from this podcast episode. What are your takeaways or takeaway from this interview? A big takeaway for me was equipping staff and people with empathy and action, action, action. I challenge listeners to think about what a library run by Black and Indigenous People of Color would be like and to simply contact and listen to an underserved group of people in your community. What about you, Roxanne?
Roxanne M. Renteria:
I think this profession needs more librarians and library workers of color. So my most significant takeaway is the importance of connecting with and mentoring BIPOC youth via targeted internships designed to train and support, so they feel welcome and comfortable in libraries, and can see themselves working in libraries in future. I think this could be done while concurrently decolonizing so long as the mentors are cognizant of how such a program might inadvertently promote white supremacy. My call to action is to suggest you stop waiting for prospective MLIS grad school applicants to seek you out, because we know that due to contextual reasons, they're likely to be white. Instead, contact BIPOC organizations working with youth and investigate how you can set up an internship.
[Voiceover]
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the State Library of Oregon.
Este proyecto ha sido posible en parte por el Instituto de Servicios de Museos y Bibliotecas a través de la Ley de Servicios de Biblioteca y Tecnológia (LSTA), administrada por la Biblioteca Estado de Oregón.
[Voiceover]
Weeding out oppression and libraries would not be possible without the generous support from the Oregon Library Association and the State Library of Oregon, whose mission is to provide leadership and resources to continue growing vibrant library services for Oregonians.
[Voiceover]
We would like to take time to acknowledge historical injustices. We recognize Oregon was established as a white sanctuary state with the intent to exclude African-American and Black people on ancestral lands stolen from dispossessed Indigenous peoples. We recognize and honor the members of federally recognized tribes and unrecognized tribes of Oregon. We honor Native-American ancestors, past, present, and future whose land we still occupy. This acknowledgment aims to deconstruct false histories, correct the historical record and disrupt genocidal practices by refocusing attention to the original people of the land we inhabit, the slave trade and forced labor that built this country and to the oppressive social systems interwoven into the fabric of our national and regional heritage. We ask that you take a moment to acknowledge and reflect as well.
[Outro Music Playing]